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#1 2017-08-25 14:16:48 - Independent Football Scheduling

Nugget's Ghostbuster (1627)
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From: U.S. Department of Interior
Registered: 2017-08-25
Posts: 5,767

Independent Football Scheduling

Its been discussed, especially as the value of conference affiliation continues to decline with dwindling TV revenue. I know Reggie Favre has mentioned it in the past....I have mentioned it.....

New Mexico St is getting some press today as they will begin football independence in 2018. It appears they, and Idaho, were the last two schools left without a chair once conference realignment was completed. Their temporary home, the Sun Belt, kicked them to the curb. They are the last two victims of the WAC, a conference that once had TCU, SMU, Boise St, SDSU, Air Force, etc...

Aggies are getting almost 4 million for (3) games in 2019 including 1.7 million from Bama, 1.5 million from Ole Miss and 600K from Washington St. Its interesting when you compare the 2018, 2019 schedule highlights between USM and New Mexico St:

NMST- Bama, Washington St, BYU, Minnesota, Ole Miss
USM- Auburn, MS St, Bama

NM St got boxed into a situation with their Sun Belt exit and has to play Liberty twice in 2018 and 2019. On paper, with the 4 million in guaranteed money for 2019 they are heading in the right direction being independent. They need to work on their home schedule but its frankly on par with past years in Las Cruces. It was interesting to see they have AZ St and Arkansas this year. Played Kentucky, Fla, Ole Miss and Texas AM over the past two seasons. It appears they schedule as much, if not more SEC opponents compared to USM.

Couldn't help but wonder if our football schedule would improve as independent, especially if you look how bad next season is with only one Power 5 opponent(Auburn).


"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

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#2 2017-08-25 14:47:47 - Independent Football Scheduling

AndreWhere (1252)
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From: Decatur, GA
Registered: 2017-08-24
Posts: 8,746

Re: Independent Football Scheduling

Independence is our history. The model was to limit home games, play money games, and reinvest the payout into the program. Slowly, over time, we used that approach to build a team that could, on occassion, win those money games.

I do not think there's any other model that can work for us. Gianninni frickin' knew this 15 years ago, but he clung to his stupid "talk up CUSA and turn on the cruise control" model. The handwriting was on the wall that Louisville, etc. weren't sticking around, and C-USA was destined for obscurity, but we were too slow to go back to the model that built USM football.


Bring back Reed V. "Pie" TurkPalmer Eustachy.

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#3 2017-08-25 15:33:03 - Independent Football Scheduling

Nugget's Ghostbuster (1627)
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From: U.S. Department of Interior
Registered: 2017-08-25
Posts: 5,767

Re: Independent Football Scheduling

AndreWhere wrote:

Independence is our history. The model was to limit home games, play money games, and reinvest the payout into the program. Slowly, over time, we used that approach to build a team that could, on occassion, win those money games.

I do not think there's any other model that can work for us..

Liberty has a better schedule next season compared to us since they play Auburn and Virginia.....in fact, look at our 2020 schedule....only quality opponent on our schedule is Auburn....compare that to Liberty's 2020 schedule that has Virginia Tech, NC State, Syracuse and Virginia...not to mention us in Lynchburg.

Is going back to the old model bad if it gets you one less home game but 2-3 better opponents from a Power 5 conference? Does being in CUSA really improve recruiting? Is it really a gamble to leave CUSA if you found a landing spot for the other sports? I mean, will The University of Antelope Valley still schedule the womens team if we were not in CUSA? What about Blue Mountain? And who the hell is Rust? The mens team apparently plays them in December......


"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

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#4 2017-08-25 15:37:01 - Independent Football Scheduling

admin (289)
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Registered: 2017-08-24
Posts: 2,244

Re: Independent Football Scheduling

Nugget's Ghostbuster wrote:
AndreWhere wrote:

Independence is our history. The model was to limit home games, play money games, and reinvest the payout into the program. Slowly, over time, we used that approach to build a team that could, on occassion, win those money games.

I do not think there's any other model that can work for us..

Liberty has a better schedule next season compared to us since they play Auburn and Virginia.....in fact, look at our 2020 schedule....only quality opponent on our schedule is Auburn....compare that to Liberty's 2020 schedule that has Virginia Tech, NC State, Syracuse and Virginia...not to mention us in Lynchburg.

Is going back to the old model bad if it gets you one less home game but 2-3 better opponents from a Power 5 conference? Does being in CUSA really improve recruiting? Is it really a gamble to leave CUSA if you found a landing spot for the other sports? I mean, will The University of Antelope Valley still schedule the womens team if we were not in CUSA? What about Blue Mountain? And who the hell is Rust? The mens team apparently plays them in December......

The only drawback I can see to going independent is that you lose out on some pizza bowl opportunities. Those bowls are largely G5-vs.-G5 circle jerks anyway. I wouldn't miss them.

I don't know the NCAA rules about the other sports, but, as you say, *if* we can find a home for them, going independent is a no-brainer.

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#5 2017-08-25 15:58:34 - Independent Football Scheduling

AndreWhere (1252)
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From: Decatur, GA
Registered: 2017-08-24
Posts: 8,746

Re: Independent Football Scheduling

NMSU is an interesting case. Their athletic budget is extremely similar to ours. Academically, they tied with us in the last USNWR rankings. The major difference is location. They're in a much less desirable location. If they can make it work in Las Cruces without a conference affiliation, we ought to be able to make it work in Hattiesburg.

Another similarity: if you talk to the UTEP folks, they'll tell you that NMSU fans are just as arrogant towards the rest of the G5 as we can (justifiably) be at times. Their thought process is apparently "El Paso = Mexicans, New Mexico = descendents of Spaniard Americans." There's a lot of hatred there.


Bring back Reed V. "Pie" TurkPalmer Eustachy.

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